


Fully Leaded

by beambayonet



Category: Decaf - Fritz Chang (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29669001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beambayonet/pseuds/beambayonet
Summary: Karl Jensen enters society for the first time, by totally flopping every interaction with his department manager turned crush, Hanse Schafer. Real Adulthood Welcomes You!
Relationships: Hanse Schäfer/Karl Jensen
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	1. Fully Leaded All Caf No Brakes!!!

**From:** [ka.jensen@decaf.co](mailto:ka.jensen@decaf.co)  
**To:**[ha.schafer@decaf.co](mailto:ha.schafer@decaf.co)  
**CC:**[an.lenz@decaf.co](mailto:an.lenz@decaf.co)

**Subject:** About the mockup you requested…

 _Attachment:_ _invoice001.pdf_

Mr. Schafer,

I’ve attached the invoice Anselm asked me to make for you. The sample you gave was a WIP from I guess the last intern, so I had to make some adjustments. Please let me know how I did on this.

Thank you!

Best,

Karl Jensen  
_Intern  
_Decaf Magazine

* * *

**From:** [ha.schafer@decaf.co](mailto:ha.schafer@decaf.co)  
**To:** [ka.jensen@decaf.co](mailto:ka.jensen@decaf.co)  
**CC:**[an.lenz@decaf.co](mailto:an.lenz@decaf.co)

**Subject:** Re: About the mockup you requested…

Mr Jensen,

What is a “WIP”? 

It looks great, you did well with the .pdf form I made. Thank you.

Regards,

Hanse Schafer  
_Department Manager - Production  
_ _Decaf Magazine_

* * *

Karl rocked the chair back and sighed in relief. He didn’t fuck up his first invoice, and he knew how to use a form. Great! Fantastic. All he had to do now was to send it to the vendor, and…

_ > _ _What is a “WIP”?_

“Oh!” he thinks. Easy one. He types up a quick response and hits send, without the usual hesitation and not an ounce of fear. No sweat. 

* * *

**From:** [ka.jensen@decaf.co](mailto:ka.jensen@decaf.co)  
**To:**[ha.schafer@decaf.co](mailto:ha.schafer@decaf.co)  
**CC:**[an.lenz@decaf.co](mailto:an.lenz@decaf.co)

**Subject:** Re: About the mockup you requested…

Mr. Schafer,

Thank you! A “WIP” is a Work in Progress.

Best,

Karl Jensen  
_Intern  
_Decaf Magazine

* * *

  
  


And Karl leans back once again. Good on ya, Karl. You sent an email! You weren’t even scared! He hears the Ding! of a new message, and with eyes closed he clicks on it on instinct:

* * *

**From:** [an.lenz@decaf.co](mailto:an.lenz@decaf.co)  
**To:** [ka.jensen@decaf.co](mailto:ka.jensen@decaf.co)  
**CC:**[ha.schafer@decaf.co](mailto:ha.schafer@decaf.co)

**Subject:** Re: About the mockup you requested…

Jensen,

I’ll have you know, Mr. Schafer is not a work in progress! :-)

Best,

Anselm Lenz  
_Assistant Manager - Production  
_ _Decaf Magazine_

  
  


* * *

Karl blinks at the screen. Not a… Did Anselm think that of it as an insult? Did Mr. Schafer think of it as an insult? Karl bets he did.

  
  


_Piss._


	2. Real Nighttime

Another call message slapped onto the desk. Coogar is being difficult, but what's new with them? And for Hanse, it's more work, more work, more work. At least it means he’s employed.

Hanse, at the first inclination to do so, let out a deep sigh. Another day, another euro, or so they say. The intern, Jensen - or, as Hanse thinks about him, Karl - he’s doing fine. He seems eager to work and do a good job, and despite the “Work in Progress” comment it seems he’s integrating well with the others. He is starting to think it was a purely innocuous statement, anyway.

Something snaps him from the thoughts train. He hears a squeak, a giggle, some frantic mumbling and shuffling - and he looks up to Jensen and Eta König’s station. König is smiling along like they were playing off as if nothing happened. Jensen is nowhere in sight, or so he thinks, until he sees him buried under his own arms, ears bright red.

… Moving right along.

What Hanse hopes, most of all - well, that’s a secret between him and That Which We Cannot Know. But what he hopes second of all is that Jensen will just talk to him like a normal human being.

He sips his now-cold coffee and closes his eyes - just briefly. Long enough to imagine something bigger than him checking emails from vendors and inter-floor concern.

His eyes open again, and it's another day.

Another damn day.


	3. Here Comes Everybody

**To** : [ha.schafer@decaf.co](mailto:ha.schafer@decaf.co), [an.lenz@decaf.co](mailto:an.lenz@decaf.co), [ba.nowak@decaf.co](mailto:ba.nowak@decaf.co), [dakota@decaf.co](mailto:dakota@decaf.co), [ef.peter@decaf.co](mailto:ef.peter@decaf.co), [fr.geiger@decaf.co](mailto:fr.geiger@decaf.co), [ka.jensen@decaf.co](mailto:ka.jensen@decaf.co), [ne.ozdemir@decaf.co](mailto:ne.ozdemir@decaf.co), [el.schaumberg@decaf.co](mailto:el.schaumberg@decaf.co),

**From** : [eta.konig@decaf.co](mailto:eta.konig@decaf.co)

**Subject** : NEW YEARS SOON! Are we stoked or what?

All, 

TO-MOR-ROW! It is ON! Come in at 7  Conference Rm 6B  and BYOB if you so wish. Let’s get blassted!

Best,

Eta. ( _ she/they _ )

_ Decaf Magazine _

* * *

Karl is, in fact, blassted. It is five minutes before 7.

“Oh, you should stay for the party!” Eta said.

“Interns welcome, everyone’s welcome, and Hanse probably won’t care that you called him a work in progress!” Eta said.

That’s what did it.

So here he is, drowning the nervous knot in his stomach with more.. what is this? Who brought this? Doesn’t matter, he’s drinking it anyway. A true garbage bin. He can’t feel his face. And thankfully, the crew reassured him that “Oh, Schafer? He probably won’t even come.”

At least if he came, he could face his crush with a little dignity instead of getting drunk about it. Though, as it were, he did kind of do this to himself, he thinks.

His head his the table with a soft thud, and he rolls up to look at Eta.

“He’s so… nice.” he says.

Eta laughs in his face.

“Oh my GOD are you talking about the guy you kissed or about Schafer?”

Karl’s eyes go wide: “No no no I mean… uh… “

Eta smiles wildly. Points to the beer centimeters from his face. “Are you gonna finish that, Karlsberg?”

To which, he laughs nervously – “y-yes! Absolutely! No doubt about it! I’m good!”

He lifts up his head to catch a glimpse in the distance - and who the fuck else would it be? Who else could be walking into the conference room as he uttered those words?

Turning to Eta, heart painfully a-flutter, Carlsberg in hand and his face contorted into a distinct frown, he says: "I'm fucking _way_ good."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't be like these guys

**Author's Note:**

> more coming just you fuckn wait
> 
> I'm a graphic designer now


End file.
